Bio
Karl Urban is a New Zealand actor best known for playing Éomer in the second and third films of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy; the role of Kirill, Jason Bourne's opposite number in The Bourne Supremacy; as well as playing the lead role in the film adaption of Doom.
His best known television role is that of Julius Caesar, a recurring character on Xena: Warrior Princess, from 1996-2001.
He also had a starring role as Detective John Kennex, a detective who lost a leg after a Synthetic left him behind because he and his partner had a low chance of survival, in the science fiction police procedural television series Almost Human, from 2013-2014.
Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Urban now lives in Auckland. The son of a leather-goods manufacturer (who had hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps, his first acting role was when he was eight - he had a line on a television series.
However, he did not act again until after high school. He was offered a role in the NZ soap opera Shortland Street as he was preparing to attend Victoria University. After appearing on the series for the 1993-1994 season, he attended the university for one year, then left to pursue his acting career.
Over the next few years, he landed several theatre roles in the Wellington area. Eventually, he moved to Auckland, where a number of guest roles in NZ television followed.
One of his first roles was that of a heroin addict in the drama series Shark in the Park (1989). He was in a movie as well, entitled Once in Chunuck Bay. Other television roles followed, including a guest-starring role in the series White Fang (1993).
Karl's biggest roles include Éomer in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek (2009), William Cooper in RED (2010) and Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012).